


Candystuck

by AradialSymmetry



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 17:30:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7583302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AradialSymmetry/pseuds/AradialSymmetry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nepeta is busy studying for a quiz when she gets some urgent-sounding messages from Terezi. What could her friend possibly want from her down by the dorm's vending machines?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Candystuck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spaceandshit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceandshit/gifts).
  * Inspired by [In Which Terezi Pyrope Gets Her Arm Stuck In A Vending Machine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3598479) by [spaceandshit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceandshit/pseuds/spaceandshit). 



_Bzzzzt!_ Nepeta's phone vibrated noisily on her desk, next to the bed where she was nestled into a pile of pillows and blankets. She looked up at it for a moment, then brought her attention back down to the large textbook she was curled up around. She had a chemistry quiz to take tomorrow, so she wasn't really in the mood for distractions. This university system that humans had could be _hard_.

"Mmm... Okay, this one is an ester... That's an alkyne... Here's an amine... No, wait, that was an amide. Furrick," Nepeta grumbled, doodling chemical diagrams in her notebook and testing her memory of which was which. But she was going to make sure she knew it all - after settling down in the new universe, she'd decided she was going to get into medicine. She wasn't sure if it would be for humans, trolls, or animals, but in any case she needed to learn this stuff to go on.

_Bzzzzt!_ Her phone buzzed again, and Nepeta dutifully ignored it. _Bzzzzt! Bzzzzt!_ When two more text messages came in shortly afterwards, Nepeta finally looked up at her phone and slid across her bed to reach for it. What was this going to be all about? She went to her messages to find four texts from Terezi.

N3P3T4 PL34S3 COM3 TO TH3 V3ND1NG M4CH1N3S 1N TH3 B4S3M3NT 1 N33D YOUR H3LP R1GHT 4W4Y

N3P3T4 PL34S3 1 KNOW YOUR3 1N YOUR ROOM

TH1S R34LLY 1S K1ND OF URG3NT

PL34S3 H3LP M3 <:'[

Nepeta frowned as she read the messages. What on Alternia was going on with Terezi? Or what on this iteration of Earth was going on, even. This wasn't the sort of message she'd usually send. Nepeta vaguely wondered if it was some sort of weird prank - maybe Terezi had been hanging out with John or Jane too much - but the messages seemed sincere in their plight.

Suddenly a bit worried, Nepeta slid herself out of bed and kicked on a pair of sandals, grabbing her keys and wallet and heading out of her dorm room. She was on the third floor, so she headed down the nearest staircase towards the vending machines. At first glance she didn't see anything in the small alcove containing them. "Terezi?"

"Oh, thank god! Help me out of here!" Terezi's voice came from surprisingly low to the ground, and sounded genuinely distressed.

"Oh no, what happened?" Nepeta rushed in. Terezi was lying on the ground next to the candy machine, and Nepeta quickly looked her up and down to see what was wrong. There wasn't any teal blood around, fortunately, and her body and legs were squirming around but nothing looked obviously in pain. Terezi was clutching her phone with one hand, and her other arm was out of view pressed up against the machine. Or... pressed into the slot at the bottom of the machine. Suddenly Nepeta had a better idea what was happening.

"I was just trying to buy some Skittles! But they got caught and I tried to reach in and get them and... ugh," Terezi said indignantly, squirming around some more. Sure enough, when she peered inside Nepeta saw a bag of Skittles stuck ever so close to falling down, and not too far below it a gray hand helplessly flailing around, wedged into place by one of the flaps near the bottom of the machine.

"I see," Nepeta breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing that the situation wasn't quite as dire as she'd feared. And then, she couldn't help herself from starting to giggle. "Terezi, how did you even manage to get stuck like that?"

"I don't know! I bought my Skittles and then they didn't come out even when I shook it. But they smelled like they were so close to the bottom and I thought I could just... reach in and grab it," Terezi said with a pout, before grunting again as she tried unsuccessfully to free herself. "And I texted you for help since I don't want to get in trouble."

Nepeta chuckled again as she knelt down to get a better view of Terezi's predicament. "Yeah, I doubt it would look good for Future Attorney General and/or Supreme Court Justice Pyrope to be caught doing something so blatantly illegal," Nepeta teased her friend.

"Hmph! What's really illegal here is that the machine stole my money and didn't give me my delicious, delicious candy!" Terezi said, sneering towards the vending machine. She then turned back to Nepeta with a pout. "So can you get me out of here, Miss Future Veterinarian Or Doctor Or Whatever Who Should Know How Limbs Work?"

"I don't think medical school really purrpares you for getting people unstuck from vending machines, really," Nepeta replied. But nonetheless she crawled forward, wrapping one arm around Terezi's back and sliding her other hand into the vending machine next to Terezi's stuck arm, pushing on the flap that was pinning her in place. "Okay, I'm gonna try to lift your body a bit and hold the thing open, you try to wiggle your way out on three... One... Two..."

With that, Nepeta lifted and Terezi tugged, and suddenly the arm slid free and the two girls crashed back onto the floor with a grunt. Nepeta scootched backwards and got up, dusting herself off. Terezi waved her now-freed arm around excitedly for a moment, before popping up off the floor with a huge grin. "You did it! My hero!" She giggled delightedly then embraced Nepeta with a tight hug.

"Purrrrr, glad to help," Nepeta replied, reciprocating the hug. But soon enough, Terezi broke the embrace to turn back to the vending machine.

"Hmph, but it still has my money and my Skittles," Terezi said. "Now, can you help me get them out?"

"I think that's purrobably not a good idea, Terezi," Nepeta said, rolling her eyes a bit. "Isn't the thing you're supposed to do to email dining services for a refund? If you're trying to follow the laws and all."

Terezi sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I guess. But I want to have Skittles tonight!"

"Hmm..." Nepeta pondered for a moment, looking over the machine and the precariously-hanging bag of Skittles inside. She fumbled around with the loose change in her pocket. "Well, I could try to buy something right above it, and see if that can knock it loose?"

Terezi cackled delightedly. "Brilliant idea! I knew I could count on you to figure something out." She knelt down, putting her nose up to the glass where the Skittles bag was stuck, as Nepeta slid some coins into the machine.

"Pawlright! Let me get a Kit-Kat, I love those anyway," Nepeta said, punching in the number for that particular candy bar. It was located about halfway up the machine, right above the Skittles. She held her breath as the spiral inside turned to dispense her selection. The bar dropped down, and sure enough hit against the Skittles. The bag of Skittles bent forward, looking like it was about to dislodge itself - but then it stopped, staying in place with the Kit-Kat lodged between it and the glass. Nepeta groaned.

"Are you kidding me? Ugh!" Terezi grumbled loudly. She stood up and gave the machine several hard shakes, rocking it enough that Nepeta found herself starting to back away. But their two candies stayed where they were, seeming to just settle in even more firmly where they were stuck. "Argh!" Terezi banged against the glass, but this time more in frustration than a genuine attempt to dislodge the candy.

"Maaan. Well, that didn't work," Nepeta said with a sigh. "I guess we really just will have to go and tell them we want a refund."

Terezi pouted. "But I want my Skittles! Are you really telling me I can't get my delicious delicious fruity candies today? How can anyone be so heartless?" Terezi put her hand on her forehead, gasping in feigned horror.

Nepeta pondered for a moment. "Well... How about we go over to the student union?" she asked. That was a few buildings over from their dorm, and had a convenience-store-slash-deli open late into the night. "They should have bigger bags of Skittles than the machine. And I could go fur a more of a midnight snack than candy, with all of this studying anyway..." Nepeta patted her belly.

Terezi laughed loudly. "Another excellent idea! Let's go!" With that she headed for the staircase, grabbing Nepeta's wrist and tugged the girl along behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I pretty much had to remix this fic, being that it is "ladystuck" in the most literal sense :P. Also it was a cute idea and I had fun writing my own take on the scenario! Decided to go with a post-canon setup with the trolls still as trolls going to college in the new universe, rather than humanstuck.


End file.
